After flying high against the Citrus Hurricanes on Friday, the Lecanto Panthers came back down to earth. Lecanto lost to Land O' Lakes on the road by a decisive 71-53 margin on Monday. Lecanto lost against Land O' Lakes in their previous head to head back in November of 2017, too, but the margin this time around was much wider than the 58-48 score last time.
When it comes to explaining why Lecanto lost, one person who can't be blamed is Bryleigh Florio. Despite the final result, she scored 21 points along with six steals. Florio is absolutely dominating the steal category: she's posted at least two every time she's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Xena Bellamy, who scored ten points along with eight rebounds and five steals.
Lecanto's defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 8-3. As for Land O' Lakes, their victory was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 5-1.
Lecanto is on the road again on Tuesday and play against West Port at 7:00 p.m. on December 19th. West Port will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Florida Rankings (they are ranked 269th, while Lecanto is ranked 129th). Land O' Lakes won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Tampa Prep at 5:00 p.m. on December 19th.
